Natural gas and other types of liquid fuels may include a liquid component therein. Such “wet” gases may have a significant amount of liquid volume fraction, in conventional compressors, liquid droplets in such wet gases may cause erosion or embrittlement of the impellers and rotor unbalance resulting therefrom. Specifically, the negative interaction between the liquid droplets and the compressor surfaces, such as impellers, end wails, seals, etc., may be significant. Erosion is known to be essentially a function of the relative velocity of the droplets during impact onto the compressor surfaces, droplet mass size, as well as the impact angle. Erosion may lead to performance degradation, reliability issues, reduced compressor lifetime, and increased maintenance requirements.
Current wet gas compressors thus generally separate the liquid droplets from the gas stream so as to limit or at least localize the impact of erosion and other damage caused by the liquid droplets. These known liquid separation systems and techniques, however, tend to be somewhat complex and likewise may add further reliability and maintenance issues to the compressor as a whole.
There is thus a desire for improved wet gas compression systems and methods. Preferably, such systems and methods may minimize the impact of erosion and other damage caused by liquid droplets in a wet gas while avoiding the need for liquid-gas separators and the like.